Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said demonetisation and GST have ruined the ease of doing business, and the “entire country will shout” to assert that irrespective of World Bank’s assessment.
Targeting Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Gandhi said the "entire country will shout to say that there is no ease of doing business in India".
Resuming his campaign from Jambusar town of Bharuch district in Gujarat, where assembly elections are scheduled next month, Gandhi said at a public rally, "Yesterday Arun Jaitleyji said some foreign organisation has certified that India has considerably improved in ease of doing business."
Jaitley, he said, sits in his office and believes what foreigners say.
The finance minister, Gandhi added, should meet small and mid-sized businessman for five-10 minutes and ask if the ease of doing business had really improved.
"The entire country will shout and say ease of doing business is absent, you have destroyed it, your demonetisation and GST have ruined it," Gandhi said.
Earlier in the day, Rahul took potshots at the Finance Minister, saying people knew the "reality" of the 'ease of doing business' but the improvement in survey rankings was a good thought to keep "Dr Jaitley" happy.
He had put out a tweet in Hindi, taking off from a famous Ghalib verse to say that Jaitley was deluding himself.
"Sabko maloom hai 'ease of doing business' ki haqeeqat, lekin khud ko khush rakhne ke liye 'Dr Jaitley' ye khayal achha hai (everybody knows the reality of ease of doing business, but this thought is good Dr Jaitley to keep yourself happy)."
India improved 30 ranks to 100th in 'ease of doing business' as per the World Bank Doing Business 2018 report.
